Kathy Shaidle
Kathy Shaidle (born May 7, 1964) is a Canadian poet, columnist, and blogger. Life Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Shaidle studied at Sheridan College. Since the mid-1980s she has worked in Toronto, eventually talking up a post at the Catholic New Times magazine. In 1991, she left the publication to write full-time on government grants, only to discover a few weeks later that she had developed lupus erythematosus. Her 4-year illness provided the subject matter for her 1998 essay collection, ''God Rides a Yamaha. In the early 1990s, Shaidle published 2 poetry chapbooks with Toronto indie press Lowlife Publishing, which also published Lynn Crosbie and Maggie Helwig. Blogging A self-described "anarcho-peacenik" in the early years of her writing career, she moved to a conservative, Roman Catholic position following the attacks of September 11, 2001, and entered the public eye as the author of the popular RelapsedCatholic blog. Citing some points of friction with her faith, Shaidle relaunched her blogging career under her current FiveFeetofFury blog.[http://www.fivefeetoffury.com/:entry:fivefeet-2007-09-03-0000/ "About", Five Feet of Fury, 3 September 2007.] Her views on Islam, political correctness, freedom of speech, and other issues have ignited controversy. Shaidle wrote the blog Relapsed Catholic (2000–2007) and a column for the Catholic weekly ''Our Sunday Visitor. She left the latter post in April 2007 after the newspaper refused to publish a column she had written criticizing Earth Day.Earth Day is crap, or: My last column for Our Sunday Visitor, Relapsed Catholic blog post, April 20, 2007 In September 2007 she began a new blog, Five Feet of Fury, a reference to her petite stature and combative writing style. Shaidle has also guest hosted and moderated the popular Canadian conservative blog, Small Dead Animals. In 2008, Richard Warman, a frequent complainant at the Canadian Human Rights Commission (and former CHRC employee) sued Shaidle, Ezra Levant, Kate McMillan of Small Dead Animals and the National Post over links to comments criticizing him at a Canadian internet forum, freedominion.ca. Also in 2008 Shaidle and journalist Pete Vere wrote and published The Tyranny of Nice, a critique of the Canadian human rights tribunals. As of 2009, Shaidle's writing also appears in outlets such as FrontPage Magazine, Pajamas Media, Examiner.com and, as of 2011, Taki's Magazine. She has appeared on the Michael Coren Show, The Agenda (on TVO), the Charles Adler Show, The Political Cesspool, Vatican Radio, MSNBC, and Pajamas Media radio. Writing Critic Wendy McGrath, writing in the Edmonton Journal, praised Shaidle's Lobotomy Magnificat for how its poetry "effectively relates sacred images or text to present day events and images." In contrast, a ''Montreal Gazette reviewer was critical of the book's "diet of smart phrasing... and fabricated insights." Recognition Her book-length poetry collection, ''Lobotomy Magnificat], was nominated for a 1998 Governor General's Award. * Canadian Church Press: 4 awards (humour, best national columnist, etc.) Publications Poetry * Gas Stations of the Cross. Toronto: LowLife Publishing, 1990. * Round Up the Usual Suspects: More poems about famous dead people. Toronto: LowLife Publishing, 1992. *''Lobotomy Magnificat''. Ottawa: Oberon, 1997. ISBN 0-7780-1070-8 Non-fiction *''God Rides a Yamaha: Musings on pain, poetry, and pop culture''. Kelowna, BC: Northstone, 1998. * The Tyranny of Nice: How Canada crushes freedom in the name of human rights, and why it matters to Americans (with Pete Vere; introduction by Mark Steyn). Toronto: Interim, 2008. ISBN 0-9780490-1-2 *''Confessions of a Failed Slut'' (kindle). Amazon Digital, 2018.Confessions of a Failed Slut, Amazon.com. Web, Apr. 27, 2019. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy the University of Toronto.Search results = au:Kathy Shaidle, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Feb. 12, 2015. See also *List of Canadian poets References Notes External links ;Poems *Kathy Shaidle at Canadian Poetry Online (profile & 4 poems) ;About *Kathy Shaidle Official website **KathyShaidle.ca *Five Feet of Fury, Shaidle's current blog *Kathy Shaidle, Shaidle's LinkedIn profile *Kathy Shaidle Shaidle's Facebook page *Kathy Shaidle Shaidle's Twitter page Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:Canadian bloggers Category:Canadian columnists Category:Canadian poets Category:People from Hamilton, Ontario Category:Roman Catholic writers Category:People from Toronto Category:Canadian women writers Category:Canadian Roman Catholics Category:Sheridan College alumni Category:Canadian women journalists Category:20th-century poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:21st-century women writers Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Women poets